Universities and schools
There has never been any mandatory educational requirement for becoming a journalist in Pakistan. A large number of media practitioners, especially in the print media, do not have formal training as journalists. In fact, with expansion in radio and television journalism, the need for formal education in the discipline has become more critical.
Formal institutions of journalism education have a long history in the country. In 1941, at the University of Punjab in Lahore started the first department of journalism in the Indian Subcontinent. Called Institute of Communication Studies now, it offers bachelors, masters, M. Phil and Ph.D. programmes in Communication Studies.
Karachi University established a department of journalism in 1955. Journalist training programmes started in Gomal University in Dera Ismail Khan in 1974 and the Department of Mass Communication was established at Sindh University, Hyderabad in 1977. The Department of Mass Communication opened at the distance-learning Allama Iqbal Open University in 1986 and at the University of Balochistan, Quetta in 1987.
The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Peshawar started offering a master’s programme in 1988, and such a programme was introduced at Bahauddin Zakari University in 1991.
Numerous other public universities and colleges have since started departments of journalism. A number of private institutions also offer journalism courses in almost all major cities of the country. The quality of the education, curriculum and the faculty varies widely.